Vampire-cult killers lose

An appellate court has tossed out the latest attempts by convicted vampire-cult killers Rod Ferrell and Howard Scott Anderson to get a new sentencing hearing.

Ferrell and Anderson are serving life sentences for the 1996 beating death of a Eustis couple, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that mandatory life-without-parole sentences were unconstitutional for juvenile killers.

However, an appellate court in Miami has ruled that the high-court ruling does not apply retroactively to those already sentenced.

Last week, the 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach agreed with the other appellate court that such inmates aren't entitled to new hearings.

First-degree murder carries a minimum punishment of life in prison without parole. About 200 Florida inmates are currently serving that sentence for murders committed as juveniles.

The ringleader of a "vampire cult," Ferrell pleaded guilty to beating Richard and Ruth Wendorf to death with a crowbar in November 1996. He was originally sentenced to die, but his death sentence was commuted when the U.S. Supreme Court declared it was unconstitutional to give juvenile killers the death sentence.

Anderson had joined Ferrell inside the Wendorfs' rural east Eustis home and received two life sentences as part of his guilty plea.

Last year, the nation's highest court ruled that juveniles, who are immature and cannot always understand consequences, can't automatically receive a life-without-parole sentence. Justices found that judges must review each case involving a juvenile killer for what is an appropriate sentence.

The Supreme Court decision didn't specify whether that should apply to people who had been sentenced long ago. The decision has already been applied to recent cases, such as the recent sentencing for Ryan Ray, who had a longer sentencing hearing and was given life without parole in a Leesburg killing.

In Central Florida, Ferrell, now 32, and Anderson, now 33, are among a handful of inmates who have requested a new sentencing hearing to take advantage of the Supreme Court ruling. They were denied those requests by a circuit judge, who cited a Miami appellate court ruling that the federal decision doesn't apply to people who whose convictions and sentences were final as of June 25.

The appellate court last week agreed with the circuit judge that the men aren't entitled to a new sentencing hearing.

Legal experts have said the question of whether the federal ruling applies retroactively likely will go before the Florida Supreme Court.